Sarah Palin made what some pundits will no doubt consider her first political move in critical early primary state New Hampshire with an endorsement Monday, giving her support via Facebook to Kelly Ayotte in the GOP primary race for the U.S. Senate:
Kelly Ayotte for New Hampshire- JP
Todd, Willow, and I are headed out to Kodiak and Afognak to meet with logging families on the forested islands. As we work and sightsee on America’s largest island we’ll get to view more majestic bears, so now is a good time to draw attention to the political equivalent of the species.
It’s my honor to endorse a Granite State “mama grizzly” who has broken barriers, fought off and locked up criminals, and battled all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the rights of New Hampshire parents – and won!
New Hampshire is lucky to have Kelly Ayotte as a candidate for the U.S. Senate this year. Kelly is a daughter of the Granite State, a product of its public schools, and its first female Attorney General. In her impressive five years in the AG’s office, Kelly earned a reputation for being tough on crime, supportive of law enforcement, and tireless in the defense of the rights of the people of New Hampshire. When Planned Parenthood challenged New Hampshire’s parental notification law, Kelly fought them all the way to the Supreme Court and won.
She’s the proud mother of two and the wife of a combat veteran who flew missions over Iraq and currently serves in the Air National Guard. Kelly and her husband started a small landscaping/snow removal business; so, she understands first hand the crushing burden Washington imposes on our small businesses. This pro-life, pro-family, anti-tax constitutional commonsense conservative is the Democrats’ biggest fear in November. They’re already running false ads against her weeks before even the primary election. And on top of that Kelly is facing attacks from a self-funded millionaire running with an R next to his name who likes Obamacare and cap-and-tax.
Kelly is the strongest commonsense conservative who can win in the fall. I knew I liked her when I met her earlier this year, and I know this Granite Grizzly will represent New Hampshire with distinction in Washington.
Please join me in supporting Kelly Ayotte by visiting her website at www.ayotteforsenate.com and following her on Facebook and Twitter.
One final note: I spent time campaigning in New Hampshire in 2008, and I know that the good people there are a lot like Alaskans. In both of our states, we like to get to know the people running for office, look them in the eye, and judge their character. New Hampshire voters know not to rely on misleading negative ads. New Hampshire, tune out the ads and send your native daughter to the Senate. She’ll fight for you there just as passionately and fearlessly as she fought for you in the highest court of the land.
- Sarah Palin
Josh - this is a very interesting development and it has LITTLE to do with a possible Palin 2012 run - and everything to do with saving Ayotte's 2010 campaign.
ReplyDeleteAyotte is solidly pro life and a fiscal conservative. But she has always won in New Hampshire in general elections by portraying herself as a moderate, and more or less hid her pro life credentials.
She is very much the establisment candidate, being chosen over a year ago by the RNSC to be their favored candidate. Cornyn and McConnell have done extensive fundraising for her over the past year. Wanting to be seen as a moderate, she has rejected Susan B Anthony endorsements up to now and also did not want to be publicly associated with Sarah or the Tea Party. The Tea Party and FreedomWorks (Steve Forbes) have endorsed Ovide Lamontange as their candidate. There is one other minor candidate who is also getting some Tea Party support.
Up until this spring, Ayotte was way ahead of all the other Republican candidates, and the Democrat Paul Hodes. However, this spring a fellow named Binnie entered the Republican primary. He was a former GOP Chair for the state and is a millionaire who can self fund. He has aggressively attacked Ayotte and has moved up in the polls. He still trails Ayotte but is within striking range with lots of time left until the Sept. 14th primary. He also is playing up Ayotte's pro life positions in an attempt to strip away moderate voters from her.
Clearly, Ayotte is in trouble. If she is to win she now needs to reach out to the pro life and Tea party people she has until now tried to keep her distance from. Since Binnie has already exposed her as pro life, she has little to loose now by admitting she is solidly pro life. This could hurt her in the general, but her goal now is to ensure she wins the primary first, and worry abou the general later.
As a result, she has reached out to the Susan B Anthony list and they endorsed her late last week. Now Sarah has endorsed her, not only bringing pro life support to her campaign but hopefully peeling Tea Party supporters away from Lamontange (who has little hope of winning) to Ayotte.
Clearly, this announcement today is all about ensuring Ayotte can beat back Binnie in the primary - rather than Sarah's 2012 plans. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the NRSC and Cornyn didn't reach out to the SBA and Sarah to help Ayotte. Since Ayotte is solidly pro life - and Binnie is pro choice -I'm sure SBA and Sarah are happy to give a helping hand.